Gospel Banner was the organ of the United Missionary Church, which was known as the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Church until 1947. The Gospel Banner was founded in July 1878 and was published in Goshen, Indiana, until 1885, when it was moved to Kitchener, Ontario. From 1909 to its closing issue on 6 March 1969, it was published in the United States, after 1924 under the auspices of the Bethel Publishing Co., the official publishing house of the church, located in Elkhart, Indiana. From 1878 to 1880 it was an 8-page monthly, 1880-85 a semimonthly, and in 1885 was increased to 16 pages. In 1892 it was made a 16-page weekly publication. In 1963 it became biweekly. For almost 20 years, beginning in 1879, a German edition was also published under the title Evangeliums-Panier. In 1954 it had a circulation of approximately 3,000. The following served as editors into the 1950s: Daniel Brenneman 1878-1882, T. H. Brenneman 1882-1885, Joseph Bingeman 1885, J. B. Detwiler 1885-1888, H. S. Hallman 1888-1908, C. H. Brunner 1909-1912, J. A. Huffman 1913-1924, A. B. Yoder 1925-1943, R. P. Pannabecker 1944-1951, Everek Storms 1952- .

In 1969, after the merger of the United Missionary Church and the Missionary Church Association, the Gospel Banner merged with the Missionary Banner to form a new publication known as Emphasis.